My Bride and I usually cruise with family or another couple but this time was different, we were celebrating our 20th anniversary and wanted to do "Our own thing". We arrived around 10:00 am and dropped our bags with out a hitch. I parked the car in the parking structure right across the street from the ship while the wife waited. After parking the check in went quickly and smoothly and we were on board by 10:40 am. We have sailed a few times in Concierge and a few times in Aqua but usually a normal verandah. this time being just us two we went with a guarantee verandah and were pleasantly surprised with a concierge cabin on deck 9, four cabins from the front of the ship. (9108) Normally I would'nt of booked this cabin but we fell in love with it after a couple of days. The view was great and our daly wave to the captain and crew from the verandah became a fun daily routine.

We did our usual select dining and made a standing reservation for a table for two by the window every night at 5:30 pm so we could eat early and catch the early show. By doing this it freed up the rest of the night to just wing it. We found that this also gave us time to watch the sunset every night right afer the show which was very nice. We ate in the MDR 5 of the 7 nights. The two nights we chose not to were more of us being lazy and not wanting to get dressed for dinner. The food was very good every meal as well as the service. The nights we ate in the Oceanview Cafe the food was good and fresh there also.

As for the entertainment, we enjoy the guest entertainment more than the production shows so sometimes we will skip those. This time was different. After being invited to a backstage tour and meeting some of the performers we became more interested and really enjoyed them more. As for the music, the house band and solo performers were also very good. The Cruise Director Maarten Bruels was spot on as always! One of the nights they had "The Wedding Games" and my wife and I were slected to play, and we also won, and that was great fun. Read more